In “A Christmas Story” jean Sheperd recalls the “Daisy Red Ryder 200-shot Range Model Carbine Action Air Rifle” With the compass in the stock and the thing which tells time.(Sundial).

Unfortunately, for those of us in the know, there was never any such thing, except in Shep’s imagination. Oh, Daisy made them, for a while, in honor of the movie (The model is called “The Christmas Dream”) but the original just had the “Red Ryder” brand.

No, the gun with the compass in the stock was a Buck Jones #107, and it was a pump. It was a much better rifle- though it still had a smoothbore it was made a little better, and the “trombone” or pump action made it less cool, in the eyes of a lot of kids. So it wasn’t uncommon for Dads who understood coolness to buy a Red Ryder and order a replacement Buck Jones stock and marry the two; I’ve seen at least one example of this at gunshows.

12/02/2010

Gurley Novelty, in Buffalo, NY, produced figurine candles that were designed and manufactured by candle maker Franklin Gurley. The candles were commissioned by the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (now ExxonMobile) for the original purpose of using the excess paraffin that was produced during the oil refinery process, and were around in the 1930s. Gurley candles were originally produces under the name Tavern Novelty Candles, but was bought out by Gurley in 1949. Over time, Gurley's business went from paraffin confections such as wax lips and teeth to almost exclusively candle production. Tavern was bought out and the name was changed to Gurley Novelty in 1949. Gurley Novelty made candles for all the major holidays, but the Christmas and Halloween ones are the most sought after.

In 1927, Franklin C. Gurley, Sr. left his position at Buffalo's National Aniline & Chemical Co. to build a candy business of his own. He purchased Robert White's new confectionary company, W&F Manufacturing Co., which had incorporated only the year before to produce, "...all kinds of candies, chocolates, ice cream dainties and parafine (sic) novelties." Gurley reported his occupation as "confectioner" by the 1930 census.

Just a few blocks away, Glenn Confections was busily engaged in producing their popular paraffin novelties, and continued to do so after becoming the wax candy division of W&F Manufacturing Co. Wax horse teeth (said to taste like wintergreen), and other novelties chattered profitably down Glenn's production line while Franklin Gurley explored further expansion opportunities for his rapidly growing company.

W&F Mfg. began producing novelty candles for Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. in 1939, using paraffin from Socony's nearby refinery at Olean, NY -- once home to the world's largest crude oil storage site. W&F's "Tavern Candles" Santas, reindeer, elves and other colorful Christmas favorites are still prized by E-Bay collectors as are Gurley's elaborately molded Halloween candles. Decorative and scented Gurley paraffin candles soon became W&F Mfg.'s principal product, accounting for 98% of sales, but production of Glenn's wax candy novelties continued. A field of metal tanks, some holding 20,000 gallons of paraffin, stood adjacent to Gurley's Buffalo factory.

As W&F's wax candy division, Glenn Confections produced the popular ancestors of today's Wack-O-Wax and Nik-L-Nips. In the town of Emlenton PA, a few miles south of Oil City, the Emlenton Refining Co. (and later the Quaker State Oil Refining Co.) supplied fully refined food-grade paraffin to W&F for these bizarre but beloved treats.

09/19/2010

The value of things changes over the years. There was a time light bulbs were valuable enough that people would steal them from hotels, public buildings, and the workplace. Below is a little artifact of that time, a 1920’s light socket with a lock. Once a bulb is screwed in, it will not come out unless you insert a key to release it.

The ad at the bottom indicates an additional bonus–people can’t unscrew the bulb to power unauthorized appliances in the workplace. Sorry, no heaters or coffeepots.

When they reached a point near the completion of the Gateway Arch, they had to stabilize it with a cross-brace. The cross-brace had the letters PDM on it, standing for Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel. This "advertising" caused a great deal of controversy. So they made PDM take the letters down.